There has been known a remote action guidance system configured to send a work video picture and a voice of a worker, who performs prescribed work at a work site, to an instructor at a remote location through a bidirectional communication network (line), and to allow the instructor having expertise in that work to provide a work instruction to the worker while watching the work video picture.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a remote action guidance system which is configured to cause a worker to superimpose an index for instructing a region, on which the worker is supposed to work, on a target region of an actual optical image of a work target through a monitor screen by using a head mount display (HMD), thereby enabling an instructor to transmit an instruction easily and accurately. Here, the HMD is an apparatus which is put on the head or the face of a wearer, and is configured to project a video picture on an organic EL display, a liquid crystal display device, and the like directly onto the eyeballs of the wearer by use of an eyepiece optical system, and enables the wearer to observe a virtual video picture as if the video picture is projected into the air. Specifically, according to the remote action guidance system, the worker puts on the HMD equipped with a camera unit, and transmits a video picture of a work target shot with the camera unit to the instructor at a remote location. While observing this video picture through a monitor of a remote instruction device, the instructor provides the worker with video and audio information from the remote instruction device through the HMD, thereby providing a work instruction. The literature states that, the worker is able to reach out the hands to an instructed region while easily recognizing the region by using an index provided onto the virtual video picture on the HMD, and thus to improve workability.
Meanwhile, NPL 1 discloses a remote action guidance system as a PH (parasitic humanoid) system, which allows an expert worker to support work by an inexpert worker, for example. Each of the inexpert worker on site and the expert worker at a remote location puts on a microphone and a wearable camera which is an HMD equipped with a camera unit. The expert worker who receives information from the site performs work in a virtual space through a monitor. From a video picture shot with the camera that is put on the expert worker, a video picture of the hands or arms of the expert worker is extracted or a CG image of the hands or arms is created, and the video picture or the image is displayed in such a way as to be superimposed on a video picture shot with the camera that is put on the on-site worker. In this way, work guidance to the on-site worker is performed by using augmented reality (AR) technology.
Note that PTL 2, for example, describes a master-slave robot configured such that a robot is operated in conformity with an action of an operator at a remote location. This robot is also similar to the above-described remote action guidance system.
However, the on-site worker (the worker) receives action information from the instructor (the expert worker) and determines his or her own action on site based on the action information in the case of the above-described remote action guidance system, whereas the action is determined corresponding to action information of the operator in the case of the master-slave robot. In other words, timings for determining the action of the on-site worker (the robot) are different.